The Open Conspiracy (1928)
“I never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.”
“The savage in man is never quite eradicated.”
September 26, 1859
Journals (1838-1859)
“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.”
On Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, in a press conference with Putin http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010618.html (16 June 2001)
2000s, 2001
Context: I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. And I appreciated so very much the frank dialogue.
“Man is sadly retarded by allowable imperfections.”
Source: Meditations in Wall Street (1940), p. 22
Source: Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man (1784), Ch. XIII Section II - Of The Importance of the Exercise of Reason, and Practice of Morality, in order to the Happiness of Mankind
Context: An unjust composition never fails to contain error and falsehood. Therefore an unjust connection of ideas is not derived from nature, but from the imperfect composition of man. Misconnection of ideas is the same as misjudging, and has no positive existence, being merely a creature of the imagination; but nature and truth are real and uniform; and the rational mind by reasoning, discerns the uniformity, and is thereby enabled to make a just composition of ideas, which will stand the test of truth. But the fantastical illuminations of the credulous and superstitious part of mankind, proceed from weakness, and as far as they take place in the world subvert the religion of REASON, NATURE and TRUTH.
On the renaming of Langevin School in Calgary to Riverside School https://globalnews.ca/news/7912688/alberta-indigenous-history-jason-kenney-cancel-culture/ (1 June 2021)
2020s
“The animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness.”
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)
“No man is entirely free from weakness and imperfection in this life.”
(19 February 1756)
1750s, Diaries (1750s-1790s)
Context: No man is entirely free from weakness and imperfection in this life. Men of the most exalted genius and active minds are generally most perfect slaves to the love of fame. They sometimes descend to as mean tricks and artifices in pursuit of honor or reputation as the miser descends to in pursuit of gold.
3, 18, 1
On Abstinence from Killing Animals
“To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake.”
